Out of the Shadows (UPDATE: WRITER IS ALIVE, NEW CHAPTER THIS WEEK)
by Mural41
Summary: First fanfic. When a human is killed when coming home from duty, he's given a second chance at life. He must adapt to Zootopia's way of life while also throwing himself into the fray. Mostly follows the original plot but not exactly. Written from his perspective with a little bit of third person POV as well. (EDIT: CHAPTER 8 RELEASED)
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

I don't normally write FanFics. I've heard of some but I was never really "in" to it, you know? But then there's Zootopia. Holy shit, this movie has changed me. I can't stop thinking about it and I'm at a loss for words on how to describe how I feel about this movie. So I then went on and just started reading more and more about "what if" at the end of the movie. I'm deep and involved with this that I decided to write my own. It's my first one, so I don't know how it'll go. I have an idea of what I want this to be, I just hope it turns well on paper.

My idea, which really isn't my idea since it's been copied by others, is what if a human came to Zootopia? And I'm not talking about a normal human being. No, I'm talking about Special Operations. A soldier of war. A person who protects the pubic. Yes, I'm talking about a military man in the world of Zootopia. What inspired me to write this was a series of novels that's based on a video game: Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon. I'm not copying and pasting those characters from that series, I'm just using that as inspiration to write this.

What exactly am I writing? Well, an adventure. An adventure that I thought of and I have to tell on paper. The plot runs parallel in the real movie except told from the soldiers perspective, with the "what if" possibilities towards the end. I do apologize for my grammar, or misspellings, like I said, I'm new to this and any help to get better would be much appreciated. I only put the rating on "M" as a precaution.

TL;DR, I pulled some inspiration from Ghost Recon and it meets Zootopia. I don't know how I thought of it either.

Anyway, enjoy the ride.

 _ **Author's note: bolded italics are thoughts that are being said inside their head, not out loud. Also, everything being told is purely fictional. Any names mentioned are just coincidence. The POV may switch between from 1**_ _ **st**_ _ **to 3**_ _ **rd**_ _ **at times.**_

Backstory of our main character:

Howard Clauson

Age, 33

Former soldier for the United States, where he worked under an organization under the codename "S.C.D." which stood for "Seek, Confirm, and Dismiss." A special operations organizations that only allowed the highest caliber of soldiers to go worst areas of conflict. The public doesn't know about S.C.D., and that's the way it needs to be. Howard was one of the lucky few to be part of S.C.D. and the youngest to join at the age of 24.

Height, 6'0"

Weight, 220lbs, not too muscular but toned right. The prime condition of an S.C.D. operative.

Personality, Nice, but very stern and serious when on duty. He does have a sense of humor which eases things during missions. When he leaves his world, he has to adjust to the new one, but he's prepared… so he thinks.

Out of the Shadows

Prologue

"Hey Howard."

I was currently looking down as we made our descent into Franz Air Force base, located in Northern Vermont. The time was 23:39, with sky pitch black that surrounded our aircraft. I hated flying, it's one of the things I told in my interview when I got tabbed to be a part of S.C.D. You would think that a guy like me would get used to flying since I'm in the military, and that working for a top secret organization which heavily depends on flying would help ease that fear. Well, surprise motherfucker, I'm still not over it.

What helped me ease that fear was the picture of my wife and baby boy. I married my wife, Rachael , about 2 years before I deployed. Talk about crazy love, huh? Who would want to get married to someone knowing you won't see her for a couple of years? Well, love is a strange thing, and she was sure that she wanted to spend her whole life with me no matter what happened. She could have said no, after all, I did proposed to her. The photo always helped me during times like these, but it always made me miss them more. She knew I was a soldier, but not like anything that they would even think of. I wouldn't be able to tell them, since S.C.D. would wipe them off the grid. Like in Burn Notice, except they're the ones being wiped off, not me. Well, not my baby boy. That would be too crude.

"Howard!" The voice a little louder this time.

I finally looked up to see that it was my fellow comrade, Lance Depperson, another soldier who works for S.C.D. We've been deployed to several missions together, and he always had my back and I always had his. It's cliché to say that, but when there's only a few of you in a group, you get along pretty easily with others.

"You _still_ have that photo?" Said Lance.

"You know I hate flying more than anyone else Lance. It helps me get by."

"You're lucky to have her, you know? Aren't you glad that we're finally coming home for a while? You'll get to see her and.."

Lance was interrupted by AAL, or "Automated Artificial Logic." He's a program that talks through our ear piece whenever we're out on missions. It helps us one-up the enemy so that we're always a step ahead than everyone else. If not for him, S.C.D. wouldn't exist. Crazy to think about that really. Most of our missions that we've been through could of gone to shit if not for him. Thank the lord for the creation of Artificial Intelligence, otherwise, the world would be hell.

"Excuse me Sir Howard and Lance, but I have detected a projectile that has been launched from an undisclosed location. The projectile is indeed a missile and is currently heading towards… well, that's odd."

"What?" Both Lance and I stammered.

"…It appears that its current path is towards us. Apparently, we are being targeted."

Both of us we're confused. We were in the 'States, who would be trying to shoot us down?

"AAL, get me in contact with the pilot" I asked. A couple seconds went by and I could soon hear the voice of our pilot. "Pilot, this is Howard in the rear, do read any tango's in our perimeter?"

"Howard, this is the Pilot, I don't notice anything on the radar. Why, what's the matter?"

"AAL just reported that a missile has been launched from an undisclosed location and its path is towards the aircraft, are you sure that there is nothing in front of you?!"

Before I could hear what the Pilot was about to say, our coms. went dead. Me and Lance both looked at each other in panic until suddenly our coms. were back up and a voice could be heard. This time, it wasn't the Pilot. It was the Headmaster of S.C.D.

 _(Following conversation between headmaster and Howard)_

Howard: "Howard to Headmaster, do you copy? What the fuck is going on?"

Headmaster: "Hello Howard, hello Lance. I know I both told you that you two would be getting an early vacation, away from work."

HW: "Yeah, well it's starting off mightily interesting because someone just aimed.."

HM: "You see, I wanted to make sure that vacation was permanent."

I didn't get it. What was Headmaster saying, was he trying to kill us both? Why? What have I done to deserve this?

HM: "Both of you are being neutralized. I was given executive orders from the president to do so. You worked well for us. Now, enjoy your 'vacation' boys."

He hung up as I was furiously cursing and shouting. What the fuck just happened? He didn't give us any explanation on why the two of us we're going to be dead. So many thoughts, so many things were building up that I couldn't focus on what was going on. It was all so sudden to me. Before I could think of anything, I could hear a loud bang up front, and the aircraft started hurdling towards the ground. Lance was knocked out cold but I was still consciously breathing. Great, I'm going to be alive and see this all through I thought. I was thinking about my wife and my child, just thinking how are they going to react to all this? For the first time in a while, my fear of flying finally ended… only because I ended up in an empty void by myself.

It was weird. All the fear, all the hate, all the things that were building up in me were suddenly gone. Now, I was in an empty white void with nothing around. I never really believe in reincarnation but for some reason I got the thought that I would come back as human sperm. I mean, everything was white. Was I being born again? Would I have to go through life and start over? Would this mean I would get revenge to the person who wanted me dead?

Unfortunately I wasn't human sperm, because I could hear a voice that came above. I looked around and I couldn't see a person in sight. It was human voice, for sure. What exactly it wanted, I don't know. I was still trying to figure out where I was or what the hell this place was.

"Howard, I know this is all troubling for you and it's difficult for you to understand, but I am what they would call the Guardian."

I was in awe, not amazement, but by having no clue of what was going on. It only made things worse when I tried to speak, cause I couldn't hold myself back.

Howard: "What is this place, what is going on? What the fuck just happened to me, am I really dead? Oh please don't tell me I'm dead…"

GA: "Please, try to contain yourself. I know it's hard right now to do that, and I'll my best to explain everything if you could please calm down."

HW: "Okay, okay, I'll try. It's just.. it's just… shit, everything happened so fast before I got here. What exactly is going on?"

GA: "You're in a place where the souls of your world move on to the afterlife. It's called the Sanctuary. Welcome."

HW: "So, I'm dead, right? And this is what they call Heaven, correct? Like they say in the bible? I mean, I'm no religious person cause I did kill some people during my time with, well, the S.C.D. or whatever they are called now because…"

GA: "Because someone wanted you dead, Howard."

HW: "What?"

GA: "The S.C.D., as you said it, wanted you dead. They were lying when they said that they were given 'special orders' from the president."

HW: "...why?"

GA: "That, I don't know. I can only tell you that your family is safe along with your wife and your son. You don't have to worry no more Howard. They're safe. I wish I could tell you why the S.C.D. wanted you dead th.."

HW: "It doesn't matter now."

I cut him off early when I said that, as I had enough of hearing what was being said to me. I didn't know what else to say. It was troubling to know that my wife and my son would soon know about my passing, and that they would have to live with that forever. It made me feel cold inside. Actually, I couldn't feel anything. I was numb. To be dead at age 28, with many more years to come that were expected, now gone. It sucked. So this is what death is like, huh?

"I'm sorry your short lived but patriotic life came to end. It's a shame, really. Do you have any quest.."

HW: "I want to come back to life."

This startled the Guardian, like if he was never asked this question I just announced before. It caught him off guard, giving a look a troubled look right at me.

GA: "Excuse me?"

HW: "I said, I want to come back to life."

GA: "Howard… the world you come from, you're dead.. in that realm of the world.. I can't just bring.."

I cut him off again, "I don't care, just bring me back to life!" I said, in the meantime, the Guardian gave me a perplexed look.

GA: "Why?"

There were many reasons that I could come up with on why I wanted to be alive again, to go back to living a normal life or so I can get out of this… void. I know it was called the Sanctuary, but this place creeped me out, and I rather be somewhere else. However, I finally said what I thought was best to say. "I don't know. To me, it's the best thing for me to do. I mean, wouldn't you want someone with the caliber like me protecting… whatever that maybe needs protecting?" I tried really hard not to bullshit. I mean, I wasn't lying, maybe just advertising myself just to convince the Guardian just so I can start over again.

GA: "Very well. I'll have transferred to a different world where you'll be able to continue your life. However, I'll have you know that this world is very much different from the world you previously came from. Are you sure you want to go through with this, because once it's done, it is not irreversible."

HW: "It's worth it in my eyes. Just one condition: I'm going to need my gear? You know, equipment that I previously used for the S.C.D.?"

GA: "Why? You should be thankful that I'm even considering this."

HW: "I didn't say I want it, I said I need it." I gave him a dead serious look. I wasn't fucking around, if I was going to survive wherever I was going, I needed at least something to have with me. Because what good is it to arrive in a different world and being, oh I don't know… naked? Yeah, that would suck. Finally, the Guardian responded.

GA: "Fine, you'll be fitted with your regular gear that you've used for your previous missions.

The gear the Guardian mention wasn't much, but at least gave me a shot to survive. This included the S.C.D. suit, except with the S.C.D. logo's patched out. It was pretty much plain grey cargo pants with a digital urban camo on the sides. I also had a windbreaker hoody for my top and a black bandana with a half-skull representing my face. It was pretty badass, but that wasn't all.

My VR wristband. The VR stood for virtual reality, which I know that it was already a thing, but this was totally different. Remember the HUD I was mentioning about earlier? Yeah, that's what is it. A device to see the world in a different way, while staying ahead above everyone else. It felt like cheating to some sort. Nah, how could it be? It also came with my coms. ear piece, but… I don't know how much use that was going to be.

Oh, did I also mention active camouflage? Yeah, The S.C.D. had some pretty cool shit. I'm surprised the Guardian hasn't even bothered to ask what exactly I was bringing. Thank the lord too.

GA: "Anything else?"

HW: "My TDR and my silenced pistol?" My TDR, or "Tranquilize Dart Rifle" is my go to weapon. Non-lethal, so it's not going to hurt anyone. It was also foldable, so that way no one in public would ever know that I would actually be carrying a sniper rifle. My pistol however, is somewhat use to institute fear in the enemy. Say you sneak up on someone, whip out your pistol and put it to their head. You have no idea how much control you have in those situations. Is it loaded? Eh, I honestly don't know. I never had to use it… yet.

GA: "Weapons? How do I know that once I send you away you won't go off on a killing spree?"

HW: "Because if I do, I'm going to end up back here eventually."

I was right, when most people, at least the ones I heard of, go off on a rampage and starting killing any living thing, they tend not to survive a few hours later. I mean, I was part of the S.C.D. so obviously it's not like I'm talking out of my ass.

The Guardian moaned and handed my weapons. I was ready now, and I can see very clearly that the Guardian wanted me out of his sight.

HW: "Alright, I believe that's everything. So, where to am I going?"

GA: "A world… well, you'll see for yourself. I would tell you but I already gave in too much of your 'demands' so you're just going to have to find out."

HW: "Wait, what? Te.." And before I could finish, the white void that surrounded me was gone.


	2. Chapter 2: Alive Again

Alive… Again

I woke up to the sound of the cars in the distant. Actually, it was the smell of trash that surrounded me as I took a good look to realize where I was. It dawned on me that it was early morning, if I had to guess, probably 08:00. But what really caught me off guard was how… Human everything was. I was in an alleyway between two buildings, to my right was a street. I took a glance to see who or what was out there. What I saw, well… was pretty remarkable. At first I thought they were humanoid shapes, thinking the Guardian was bullshitting me all along somehow there was life on another planet far away from Earth. But no, they weren't humans. I couldn't tell, so I got up and slowly started walking to the end of the alley to get a clear vision on what was out there.

Stores, shops, houses lined the street. The backdrop was some sort of large metropolis. It came to my assertion that I found myself in a city, but filled with what?

That question was soon asked when something bumped into me. It felt rather… furry, if that sounds any weird at all. It was also very tall as I could see a shadow cast over me, which made me ponder a bit. I'm 6'0", what could possibly be taller than… oh god. I turned around to see someone, not just anyone, but someone who clearly wasn't a human

It was a giraffe. And he wasn't happy since I was standing in his way. But that was the least of his or her concerns when he gazed at my face. I can only imagine what was going through his mind when he the human skin expose in front him. What could this species possibly be? It was before too long when the moving crowd notice me as well. These weren't humans. These were animals. Talking, walking, two legged animals. This isn't right… All the animals that I could spot, were ones I noticed from my old life. Rhinos, gazelles, lions, were all WALKING. AND THEY WERE TALKING THE LANGAUGE I SPOKE. AND WHY ARE THEY WEARING CLOTHES JUST LIKE A HUMAN WOULD WEAR?

It was almost like I was in some fucked up nightmare. As if this new world that I plunged into was like my old life but with a twist in fantasy.

No, this was my reality now, and I would have to deal with it. I've been through a lot before, but this is new territory for me.

"Uh excuse me, just… what, exactly.. are you?" said the giraffe. I almost forgot about the giraffe. I was just in still awe of just where I was.

"Where am I?" I answered back, answering with a question for a question is not the best of conversation starters, but I needed to know where I was. The crowd was getting bigger as moments passed, eyeing to see what exactly I was.

"Zootopia."

And then it hit me as it started to make sense. I was no longer in a world where humans dominated and animals were subsidiaries. No, I was the animal, and they were the humans. The roles have been reversed. I was nervous because now that I'm alive again, I'm no longer the alpha. I'm just simply the hunted, out in the wild. And the wild, was Zootopia. An urban jungle filled with animals of many different species and traits.

This was going to be difficult.

In an instant, I turned around and ran up the sidewalk, slicing and dicing my way through the crowd. I put the incident with the giraffe behind me, hoping that no onlookers would question to the police, or whatever they're called, to go find me. I needed to disappear and figure things out.

It was very crowded. I tried to be nice about moving people out of my way, but I was getting desperate. The more onlookers, the more curious they would find me, and running through a loaded crowd is one way to attract onlookers real fast. _**Where's a good place to disappear for a while?**_ As I came up to a crosswalk, I saw another alleyway, this time it lead to the back of a building. Bingo. Without a seconds notice, I ran into the alley and gave one last look behind me. I could have swore, there were about two dozens of animals that were on looking at what was taking place. Even one or two decided to follow. _**Nope, not today guys. Guess you'll have to find out another day.**_ As I turned the corner, I looked at VRWristband and initiated the active camo. I didn't even think for one second that it might not work since I'm in a new world. Well, whoever built this world built it like the old one, because the camo was up and running. Hidden in plain sight, just as I like it. I looked over and saw that two animals that chased after me were stunned not to find me. They searched for quite a bit as I stood still. Movement is a bad thing when the active camo is up. I try to move little as possible, but running while it's up is impossible since the sensors don't have enough time to read the environment that I encompass. I didn't have to worry much since the two gave up there search. I sighed in relief, took a few minutes to gather myself, put my bandana on around my face and turn off the active camo. Before I set off into the moving crowd, I decided to try something that I thought was a longshot. If the new world I'm in is just like the old world but with swapped dominant species… that must mean AAL should work, right? I pressed on my VRWristband to activate my coms., and low and behold, I heard a voice in my ear.

It was AAL. And he was confused like me, oh, like 10 minutes ago.

"Sir?! SIR!? Answer me Howard, are you alive Sir?" proclaimed AAL.

"Yes, I'm alive… again."

"Oh thank goodne… wait, alive again? What… what are you.."

"AAL, I don't usually say this, but you're going to need to get a sitrep on what went down because… the game has changed."

And with that, I blended into the moving crowd.


	3. Chapter 3: Give Me all the Intel

Give Me All the Intel

After walking for a while, I found a small park with a bench which seemed like a good time to give the low down to AAL, who was still asking me a bunch of questions. He was even getting me worried since I thought he was going to have some sort of systems breakdown, which prompted me to say "Look, everything is going to be okay. You just have to understand was has happened in the last.. well, what seems like, 4 hours, okay?"

"Okay sir.. okay. What.. what happened to you?"

"Long story short, S.C.D. wanted me dead for some reason. Why? I don't know. Then I met this person called the Guardian where I asked for a second chance at life. Now, I'm here."

"Alright… That does sound strange but I'm just glad you're okay. It's a shame that.. whoever this S.C.D. is, wanted you dead."

"What do you mean 'whoever this S.C.D. is' AAL? You were programmed by them. You know my name, so how…"

"Sir, I can't recall anything from that's related to S.C.D. All I know is you, your name, and my usual standard routines in battle."

Shit. Someone must have deleted his memory right before the crash happened. Hence why he never came back online right after Headmaster told me to "have a nice trip." What intrigued me the most was how he was still functioning in the new world. How? I asked myself. So I had to ask him, hoping the "L" in AAL was still logical.

"AAL, how are you still functioning? I mean, we are in the new world, so.."

"Well sir, I've been doing some research in the past minute or two. Apparently this place that we live in now is called 'Zootopia', a place where all animals, peaceful or predators, have been living in harmony for quite some time. They almost, acutally… they look just like you! It appears to me sir, that we're living.."

"…In the same world that was the old world, except the animals are the humans and I'm the animal."

Well that pretty much confirmed my suspicions about why my active camo and AAL are functional. The tech here allows it.

I feel like the luckiest man in the weirdest kind of shit right now.

"Sir, what are we going to do now?"

That was a very good question. What was there to do? I asked for my equipment and now I don't have much use for it.

"How about we start asking questions. I'll still wear the bandana and just tell people that I have a severe burn on my face." What a good use for the skull. I mean, people will think I'm creepy but at least they won't be in awe of me… yet. "Let me try going into this store hear. You're on alert until I get out, got it AAL?"

"Got it. And Sir, may I just say it's good to be back."

"Same here, bud, same."

I walked across the street where there were some bystanders looking at me. I simply said to them, "Severe burn marks, I have to wear this" I said. I tried to smile, but it's pretty hard to smile when your entire mouth is covered. The onlookers simply shrugged, and kept walking. _**I can't believe that actually worked. Huh, maybe I can get away with this..**_

I walked into the store, there I could see behind the counter were two elephants, one I can presume was the owner and the other just walking to the back as if he done something wrong. Without a beat, the owner spoke right at me.

"Hey! I don't accept thieves in my shop, so you better be thinking about.."

"Burn marks, on my face dude. Yeah, you should really not judge someone right out of the gate. That would be pretty bad business wouldn't you think?"

I knew being a smartass right off the bat wouldn't land me in the good, but hey… you might as well stretch a lie as far as you can.

"Very well then.. what do you want? Are you looking to buy?"

"I'm looking for something. Can you help me find the nearest library? Or, I don't know, computer?"

"Look pal, I don't know what makes you think asking that will help my business" He gave me a snarky look, I knew I was going to get that since I set myself up for that "So I'm going to ask you one more time: Are, you.. looking, to buuuuuuy?"

I could tell I wasn't getting anywhere with this guy, so I simply shrugged and left the building. I kinda happy to leave the building, I mean, at least no one bothered to ask me "What the fuck are you?"

As I looked left, I could see a fox just walking down the street. I was going to go after him, thinking maybe he could help me get pointed in the right direction. At this point, anyone that looked competent enough seemed like a viable answer to my question. That was, until, I heard voice behind me.

"Excuse me sir, are you looking for something?"

It was high in pitch and energetic. Like… it was sound of hope. What was even more strange… it sounded like my former wife, Rachael. _**Rachael? Is that really the sound of my wife calling?**_ I was confused, so immediately I turned around. Sadly, it wasn't Rachael, but it would have been a fucking miracle had it been her.

It was a rabbit.. a small, rabbit.

"Hi, I'm Officer Judy Hopps! I did overhear the conversation you were having inside. Don't worry about the 'elephant in the room', he's just stubborn and doesn't treat people fairly."

I was in shock. On one hand, I had a rabbit that sounded exactly like my wife, and on the other hand, the rabbit that didn't seem too afraid who I was.

"Are you okay? You look kinda.. huh, well.. lost!" I actually had to regain my senses and talk normally.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I was just looking for something. You said you were an officer, right? A Police Officer?"

"Yes I am! I'm ZPD's newest recruit. I'm the first ever rabbit to become a police officer and today's my first day on the job! And you are?"

Shit. What do I say? Do I tell her my real name or just lie? Awh screw it, she seems trustworthy enough. At least I hope so..

"Howard. I'm new around town, I just came in form *points in a random direction* that way… yeah, I think."

"From Tundra Town I assume? You look like you're dressed for winter."

I look down and saw that my get up did look like I was ready for winter, but I didn't want to say exactly why I was dressed like this.

"Oh yeah, I'm from Tundra Town… Alas.." Shit I couldn't say Alaska, that place doesn't exist here, "…Alas I wish I would return back thought." Whew. Nice save.

"Well, nice to meet you Howard. What I actually wanted to say was, what are you? You don't look like anything I ever seen in my life.."

Oh. She wanted me to answer that question. Oh, great. NOW what do I say? I don't want to say that I'm a human, otherwise I'm going to blow my cover. I decided I was going to play the bullshit card, and trying that card on an officer seemed like the dumbest move in the book.

"I don't know… what I am, to be honest. Hence why I asked back there if there was a library to study what I was. Yeah, that was why, totally. It's starting to come back to me now.." I quickly had to divert the conversation to something else cause I knew this rabbit would probably start asking a lot questions that I didn't feel like answer. I already had to deal with one today (Sorry AAL). I looked around and saw tickets being filed under cars in an expired parking zone, which prompt to say "So you're on ticket duty, I presume?"

Her mood went down considerably when I brought that up "Well, yes.. I always wanted to be the one to solve a big case or save the day. The others don't think too much of me since I'm just some cutsy, small, little rabbit! I never thought that I would end up on ticket duty. I wish they would of put me on one of their big cases they're currently doing."

Bingo. I quickly became intrigued.

"Big cases… what are you referring to?"

"Missing animals case. There's been reports that at least 14 mammals have been reported missing, and yet no one at the department has gotten anywhere close to finding them. It's been really griping city hall lately so we're trying our best to find out what's causing this. Well, I say they, because like you said, I'm on ticket duty and.."

I could tell she was making this really sad, like being a police officer didn't mean anything to her. Her dream job of being, which I would assume from her rambles, of being a detective were done. I didn't want gain any more attention drawn to myself, especially if she started to cry. Dear God, that's the last thing I need to do is to make a police officer cry. I finally crouched down to her level so I could actually talk face to face.

"Hey, cheer up. You're not going to start at the top of where you began, you kinda need to work your way up. I mean, at least that's what I was taught when I was young. You start somewhere small, I mean… at the bottom of everything and you eventually work your way up. Don't let it bother you that you're not solving cases right out of the gate. If I had to guess, whoever assigned you just wanted to protect you, hence being the first bunny cop. I'm not saying it's discriminating, it's just I guess he or she doesn't want to put a heavy burden on you. But that doesn't mean you're just a ticketer, you're still a cop. You don't acknowledge someone that there's a problem, you go out and help the public. So yeah, while it's wonderful that you're the first bunny cop of your kind, don't let anyone bother you with that. You're still a cop."

She cracked a smile and I could she was feeling a bit better.

"Thank you Howard, that was… inspirational. Like… all the other mammals that are officers are way bigger than me, so I always feel a little intimidated deep down because of my size. But you… there's something strange about you… You're not an undercover cop are you…"

"No, I'm not an undercover cop officer. I actually have to get goin.."

"Wait, you can't just leave. You haven't identified yourself as what mammal you are, and if you abide by the law, I'm going to have to take you into custody."

Oh, great. I just found my first lead of the day and I can't even get to work because someone's going to arrest me. As nice as Officer Hopps was, I didn't want to risk myself being exposed more than I have to. I had to create a distraction, so I acted quickly. I glanced above her head, and said "Hey, uhh… oh, oh that's not good."

"What?" Hopps said as she turned around, "What is…"

As soon as she turned around I turned on my active camo and blended right in. I had to move away as slowly as possible but quickly enough too. From afar, you wouldn't be able to notice me, but up close you could tell that something odd was right in front of you. It was like if your eyes were playing tricks on you and you could see a bubbly image moving. Still being crouched, it made the transition much easier to get away from Miss Hopps. I slowly walked away from her and out of sight, and by the time she turned back around, I could hear hear,

"Hey, where did you go? What.. what?"

She still wandered around until she gave up. She looked down like she was about to cry until I heard her say "It was just your imagination Judes, just a ghost."

 _ **Sorry Miss Hopps, but not yet.**_ I did feel a bit bad about how I ended the situation. The only friend I had so far in this world was AAL, and he was essentially a computer. It didn't make things any better when she sounded exactly like my wife.

I had to refocus. There would be time to think about this later. I turned on my coms. and spoke.

"AAL, do you copy?"

"Yes sir, I hear you."

"Did you get all that?"

"Well she seems like an energetic woman. Rabbit, I should say. She did mention about the missing mammals case. I'm currently going through the databases to read more about it. So far I'm reading 14 and only 14 mammals missing, each from a different species. I'll send it to you when I complete my search."

"Thanks."

"Oh, and sir?"

"Yes?"

"Considering Miss Hopps was the first mammal not to question too far on what you were exactly, albeit at the end there, I'm suggesting she might be a viable ally in the future."

"What makes you think that?"

"Energetic, kind-spirited and doesn't judge on race… well, mammal preference, including you. I think she was more intrigued who you were rather than being scared."

"I'll think about it. But right now, we need to focus on this lead that's been given to us. It's small, but I think we'll be onto something here soon."

"Right sir, I'm on it. Dismissing."

As evening drew closer, shit was about to get real now. _**New world, same story. Let's go.**_


	4. Chapter 4: A Restless NIght

_**Author's note: So after some reviews, I'm going to release more chapters of this fanfic. I say 'release' because I've been writing this entire fic for the past couple of weeks. I'll be releasing the chapters periodically, maybe every other day but what's important is to deliver quality content. Anyway, here's chapter 4. Enjoy!**_

A Restless Night

As the night started to settle in, I decided to find a place to sleep. The most logical place would be a hotel, but considering that I had no money on me, and honestly, I wouldn't know how to acquire some, sleeping on the streets seemed like the only option. That got ruined when it started to rain, and I didn't want to get wet, especially since my tech. being exposed to the open air. I can cover it up, but only if I knew that the chance of weather was real. The storm came upon me like it came out of left field.

I was in the middle of an alleyway, and the only real cover from the pounding rain was a parked van sitting by a building. _**Well… it's that or having my coms. fucked.**_ I ran to the back of the door and was surprised to see that it wasn't locked. Who would leave their van unlocked in a back alley? I didn't care, it was cover for me as the rain kept coming down harder and harder. Finally, I laid down in the back of the van. I checked my coms. and they were fine, still in operation. Good, I need them. Alas, AAL chimed in once I settled in.

"Sir, I don't know if I asked you but… what's your purpose in all this? I just find it so strange.."

"Because I want to give back and protect the innocent…" I understood what AAL was mentioning. Why all of sudden would I start over again? Wouldn't it be easier just to return to a normal life and forget about my past life in the other world?

"But sir, what exactly is your motive?"

Motive. Not once I heard AAL mentioned the word "motive" to me before. It actually took me a while to think of an answer to respond back. What was my motive for all this? Why give a damn to a society full of animals, animals that simulated human life and got along in harmony? It was by chance that I ended up in this world, and it was by luck on how my tech. was somehow compatible here. But why. Why was I going out of my way to do this?

"Sir?" AAL was getting a little worried that I might drifted off to sleep, but I was wide eyed.

"I'm here, just giving some thought into it" I quickly responded "AAL, let me tell you. The reason why I'm doing this, why I'm going out of my way to find… to find whatever I'm looking for is simple.."

I paused for a slight moment, just to catch a breath. "It's because it's the right thing to do."

Usually AAL is quick to respond, but I could hear a static pause from my ear for a good five seconds until he chirped in.

"…Well I suppose you're right. I was only wondering, I mean, if I was in your position I would of returned to life in harmony."

"I'm not that type of person AAL. When someone wrongs you of something, there's always a reason why. I haven't found that reason yet. The best I can do in this world is redeem myself, forget what happened in the past and move on."

"Self-driven redemption I presume sir?"

Yes AAL. Self-driven redemption. After all, I was born and raised to the right thing in life. Besides, what else did I know other than being involve with the S.C.D.? Not much to be honest. That was my life back in the old world. Wake up, eat, shit, debrief and then head out on your mission which could take days, weeks, maybe even months. So why change yourself when you can adapt to your surroundings with what you already know?

"I don't know any better AAL. I know it sounds kinda of stupid to say that, but I really don't know any better."

"Understood sir. Again, I was just curious, I'm still trying to adapt to this world while it has been easier for you."

It was a weird conversation, but not awkward. We both know what we we're trying to accomplish, it's just that both of us are having different experiences to change. You would think that an A.I. like AAL wouldn't care as much, but this was still new to him to digest. He was taking it like a pro I will say. To ask all these questions while managing the missing mammals case is pretty remarkable.

"Low power, alert when necessary" I spoke into my coms. AAL acknowledge accordingly.

It was time to get some shut eye… or so I thought.

Just as soon I commanded for AAL to go on low power, I could hear a bang outside. It wasn't thunder, as a matter of fact, the rain started to ease up. It also didn't sound like gunshots. _**Great, just when I think I can rest for a while…**_ Suddenly I could hear two voices outside and they were getting closer and closer. Soon, the voices were right next to the van, close enough that I could eavesdrop on the conversation.

"You think anyone is going to find out?"

"Find out what?"

"About the missing mammals. So far, no one knows where they are and the public is starting to get a little itchy that one of them could be next."

"Look Ivan, I told you I need more time to figure this out. The only reason that they're in my captivity is to isolate them away from Zootopia. Would you want a savage predator going around and start killing the innocent? Do you know how much shit that would put me in? I'm already at odds with the board since they keep asking me 'why haven't we gotten anywhere yet?' I have to repeatedly tell them that I and the ZPD are working as best we can. Now, do you understand me fully?"

"Yes, Mayor Lionhart."

Mayor Lionhart. Ah, politics and crime are always a bad match. For my sake, this was a match made in heaven. I peeked up a little bit and could see who Mayor Lionhart was… a lion.

"AAL, keep the volume low. You're getting this right?"

"Indeed sir. Apparently he's the one that's holding the 14 missing mammals. What intrigues me the most is that he mentioned 'savage', care to explain?"

"They're going back to their primitive state."

It all added up now. 14 mammals confirmed missing, 14 of them have supposedly gone savage, and I found who were taking them away. Only thing was… how did they get like this? The conversation briefly continued with Lionhart saying,

"Now, I'll see you at Cliffside Asylum. We can talk more there."

The conversation ended and the driver side door of the van opened. In came a wolf, about my size, maybe 5'11". He started the engine and we took off down the road, heading to what I assume would be a place called Cliffside Asylum.

"AAL, get me a sitrep of the place and fill me in the details when we get there."

"On it sir."

Well, it would appear that tonight would be a sleepless one for me. I'm going to be spending it inside an Asylum. _**Great, just great. It's going to be one crazy night.**_


	5. Chapter 5: Cliffside Asylum

Cliffside Asylum

Roughly 45 minutes passed and I could sense we were getting close, as the driver started to acknowledge to himself of just how beautiful the scenery was. He kept mentioning the word "cliffs", which was a dead giveaway to me. I decided to move a little bit so I could angle myself to one of the van's window. The night sky was bright enough to illuminate the ground below, which the skyline of Zootopia as a backdrop. I turned my head just slightly to see a large building located on a tiny platform. It wasn't man made, well, "mammal" made to be politically correct, it was almost nature had a piss fit and grew a small landmass that poked on the crescent of the descending falls. Perfect for place to getaway, and perfect to keep people away… far away.

Before our driver Ivan, who still hasn't felt my presence, made the approach to the gate, I contacted AAL on my coms.

"Alright Sir Howard, here's what I can find about this Cliffside Asylum. Originally built 75 years ago, that's same rate back on the old world, to house mentally ill patients of Zootopia. As per usual with every asylum, it eventually got shut down by the government and wasn't used for roughly 30 years afterwards. That is, until now."

"30 years out of commission, huh? Then how is it still operating if it's holding 14 mammals?"

"Well this is the part that's getting interesting sir. After it was shut down, it was used as secret holding facility for high valued targets. So even though it was shut down for quite some time, it was still being funded through someone."

"Do you think it was Lionhart?"

"I wouldn't assume so sir. Lionhart was sworn in… if I look through… ah, yes, he was sworn in about a year ago."

"Does it say anything relating on who came before him?"

"No it appears not sir. Do you want me to look up who came before him?"

"Not really, we already know that Lionhart is handling this and he's using the facility to hold the mammals captive. That right there is enough to interrogate him without question."

"While I do agree with that sir, you do know that I have no authority over whether or not if you're allowed to interrogate someone. May I remind you that what you're doing is self-driven."

"I know, which makes this even better."

The van went back around the facilty where it was parked in a small driveway. I waited until my personal chauffeur Ivan was cleared of the vehicle, and then I slowly backed myself out of the van from behind.

"AAL, get into their systems a give me a layout of the place. I'm going to need to find where they're holding them."

"I'm on it sir."

I got to one of the backdoors and waited for AAL to come back online. Soon, he gave me the green light. "Alarms are down for 2 minutes sir. Once you're inside, the alarm will be back on, making your escape a bit treacherous."

"And the hostages?"

"Ah yes, the hostages. They're located on the 5th floor, the most southern portion in that area. I'll map it out for you. You will have to engage with some hostiles. Security isn't tight, but it shouldn't be trifled with. If you have to take someone out, use your TDR, and if you're feeling lethal… your suppressed pistol will come in handy."

"I'll try not to kill anyone. I don't need bloodshed on my hands. The less, the better. Also… locate Lionhart for me, or once he's entered the building. I want to pay him a visit."

"Will do sir. I'll keep you updated."

With that, I entered the building and slowly closed the door behind me. I turned on my active camo and started to work my way through the building. Security was light, as AAL mentioned. You would think that a secret facility would be stacked with security, but here… well, this was just asking to be invaded. I turned the corner, and saw one hostile standing very casually. He was dressed pretty much the same as I was, minus the active camo. I stayed still for a couple of seconds to see if he noticed anything strange. Nothing. I decided to pull out my TDR, set the range to short and looked down my sights. I needed to get by as he was blocking the doorway which led to a stairwell, so I held my breath and placed my finger on the trigger.

There's always that split second silence. That silence between the trigger and kill always seems to take forever for me.

Click. Thump. On the ground, unconscious.

The TDR was a non-lethal weapon of my choice. The bullets were only .001mm thick with a sleep inducing formula placed inside. Unfortunately, they were the only ones I had. That wasn't my only weapon on me, I also had a small pistol that could either be suppressed or not. I usually don't use it in battle, its main use was a fear tactic. And just in case if things went to hell real quick, I had it loaded with blank cartridges. Other than being less accurate than a shotgun and non-life threatening to others, it was pretty useless. Well, not entirely since you could technically die if you held it at gunpoint to someone's head, but I never had too.

I went over to check his heartrate just to make sure, and moved his body out of sight. I started to trek my way up the stairwell, scanning for any more hostiles that may be coming. _**Nothing.**_ This seemed too easy, so I took extra caution while going up. _**Maybe it's a trap? How?**_ I tried my best to put that thought in the back of my mind. As I made my way to the fifth floor, I could see two guards watching the perimeter or a door to which led to a bunch of containment chambers. I could also hear loud, vicious barking. Like a normal animal would behave when they're in their primitive state.

I pulled my TDR out, but I wasn't going to shoot both of them since my rifle isn't automatic. I would have to get a little touchy with one of them. I looked around to see if there was anything for me to throw to cause a distraction. _**Whatdoya know, an empty can. Too easy.**_ It still wasn't making sense. Back in my time when I worked for S.C.D., I was challenged. This? This was a cake walk, like if everything was aligned perfect for me so far.

I threw in the opposite direction to one of the guards, and he fell for it easily. He moved away while his friend stood their taking the post, leaving me one on one with him. Click, thumb, down.

His friend quickly turned around to hear what happened since the sound of the body falling created a significant sound. Loud enough that he could just hear it. I was ready though, because I dashed towards him, tackled him, and started to knock him out. "Don't worry, you're going to be just fine. Just a ghost doing his work."

I took care of him quite easily, and contacted AAL to open the locked corridor.

"Got it sir, you're free to enter."

I made my way into the chambers and could see 14 mammals locked inside, scratching and clawing, desperately trying to get there way out. I examined each one of them, and one thing that stood out from each one was that they originated from a different species.

"AAL, are you seeing this?" I asked, I switched my view on my VRWristband to allow AAL to see what I was seeing, another feature that made it seem like I was cheating.

"Yes I do sir. Well, we found the missing mammals. I don't want to be rude, but… now what?"

"14… correct?" Something didn't seem right. I checked on one of the chambers. Tiger… I then moved on to the next one. Bear… and then the next. Cheetah…?

I was about to make the assumption that what I've been seeing were predators turning savage, but that changed when I saw an otter. Now, I'm no zoo expert, but otters, at least to me, were pretty harmless. This one however was going nuts and wouldn't stop barking.

"AAL… this otter… otters are harmless right?"

"Through what I can learn from the database, it says they are pretty harmless. This one… well, this is interesting one, is it?"

It would make sense if the predator species were going back to their primitive state, but if that were true… an otter wouldn't want to go nuts, would it? Unless I was wrong…

"Sir, I've been taking some scans of the otter that is right in front of you… I think what I'm about to show you is pretty telling…"

"Alright, bring it up."

AAL brought up the scan on my HUD. It was a still image of the otter and showed what looked like a bullet wound in the neck.

"That's… a bullet wound."

"Indeed it is sir. And that's not all, take a look at this from your past three encounters recently."

He quickly brought up 3 more still images of the bear, cheetah and tiger, and all three had the same bullet wound marking on their neck like the otter's.

"And sir, I've been doing more scans and taking still images, it appears that all 14 of these mammals have these bullet markings on their necks."

Well this changes everything.

"AAL, I think we're dealing with something much worse here. These animals are not going insane on their own, something is making them do it. Whoever it is, it's not Lionhart. If he was the one trying to get them to become savage, he would of already done something by now to release this to the public, and so far, what we're both seeing hasn't been shown to the public."

"So we're dealing with someone else entirely?"

"Yes, Lionhart is simply trying to protect Zootopia, but in the most extremist way he could have possibly done it: isolation."

"That sounds very sketchy if you ask me."

"It is."

A dead end. I could of swore that Lionhart might have been the one behind all this, but this threw a wrench into what I thought was going to plan out to perfection. I had no more intel left to gather. Just then, AAL came on again.

"Sir, Lionheart has entered the building."

"Huh, nice of him to join us. Did he bring friends?"

"He's brought 12 guards with him, all of them are armed, and are heading to your location."

Shit.

"Copy, heading into position."

My pace amped up considerably and I started to breathe a little bit heavier. At least things were about to get real harder, because I was no longer going after Lionhart. He was going after me.


	6. Chapter 6: Escape From the Asylum

_**Hello everyone. Sorry for the little delay, I've been doing some side stuff: Dirt Rally, school, etc. Anyway, I'm just taking my time. Here's chapter 6, don't know when next one will be out but trust me I haven't forgotten this story.**_

 _ **2**_ _ **nd**_ _ **Edit: May of goofed on this chapter, as for some reason I may of posted the ENTIRE rough copy instead of just this. Re-uploading just to make sure.**_

Escape from the Asylum

I quickly gathered my composure and began my efforts to escape. I exited the containment chambers and saw that the two goons that I put down were still sleeping.

"Sir, 5 hostiles each are coming up the two stairwells to your left and right."

"Copy. How the hell do they know that I'm here?"

"They don't. Apparently when the alarm was reset, it caused a glitch in their system. Whatever that glitch was, it seemed that it was brought to Lionhart's attention."

"So they're just checking if there's something wrong, like… a malfunction, right?"

"You did leave a body down stairs, correct?"

"Yeah, and I hid it. So what?"

"Sir, may I remind you that you're dealing with animals, not humans. Especially when the apparent species that's after you is a wolf."

"What are you trying to say, AAL?"

"Sigh… Sir, they can pick up scents 10x better.."

FUCK. No really, fuck. How could I forgotten that? That really caught me off guard to know. Here I was thinking that I've been in control this whole time, but the minor details that came to fruition just now made my situation a lot worse.

"Alright… time to get physical. Which group is coming first, left or right?"

"Right sir. Then in 45 seconds time, the left group will show up. I suggest you taking out the group on the right, but keep in mind, you only have 30 seconds to take your targets out. By my calculations…"

"I only need 30."

I darted to the right to where the guards would show up from the stairwell. I entered the door, looked over the railing and saw them, walking up at a brisk pace. I had to be careful since I didn't know what to expect. Would they shoot first and then ask questions? Or would they shoot first and then eat me? Minor stuff made me chuckle right before a throw down. I know that I could facing death here every time the opportunity presents itself, but sometimes… you gotta have a little fun.

I knew hiding wouldn't work because they would just sniff me out, so that wasn't an option for me. I had my pistol on me, but they only carried blank cartridges. It's only purpose was to put fear in the enemy, and in case they didn't take it seriously, the blanks were used as another fear tactic. I never used the blanks in combat, but tonight was going to be a first.

As I looked over the edge, I could see the first wolf a floor below me, along with the rest that were a couple paces behind him. I guess he was the shortest straw out of the bunch, since he looked nervous to whatever he might be facing. And rightfully so. I pulled my gun, and right as he turned the corner and looked up, I shot him square in the chest. He shouted in pain, and was sent backwards towards the wall. He slowly slouched down onto the floor, and just to make sure he wouldn't do anything heroic, I put another shot into his kneecaps. _**Remember kids, shoot anything that has a cap on it.**_ The other four were alerted, and hurried to my location.

Now it was time to get really dodgy.

Once I took care of the first one, I put my pistol away. These wolves were about the same size as Ivan, my "chauffeur." That being said, I turned the corner to see the first one in line out of the four. I dove and tackled him. In a split second, I batted the gun from the next wolf, which caught him off guard. I was trained to not think in combat too much in combat, and mainly rely on reacting. Always get ahead of whoever you're up against. Once I batted the gun out of his hands, I got up and used him as a shield from the gunfire from the other two goons. I could feel the impact hitting my chest, but not as bad as my "bodyguard" in front of me. He body became numb, and I threw towards the two as it sent them both backwards, tumbling down the stairs and screaming in pain.

Not having to worry about those three, I started to walk back up, and I noticed the second wolf that was wincing on the floor looked at me and said "Who… who, are.. the.. fuck, are you?"

"I'm just a ghost, and I'm your worst nightmare." And knocked the son-of-a-bitch out. Suddenly, another voice rang and it was the first guard. "You… you won't get away… with this."

As I approached him, I was going to say something snarky until he passed out. I couldn't think of one since AAL came thorough.

"Sir, the other 5 from the left have made it up the stairwell. You should.."

"I'm on it." I wasted no time and sprinted as fast as I could while pulling my TDR out. I set the range to medium and hid behind the wall near the door opening.

I peeked around the corner and could see the five in a diamond formation, 2 on the side 2 in front and on in the middle. _**Hmmm, maybe I could get 3 in 1?**_ I decided to take a risk and changed my range to long. What I was about to what really ballsy. Without thinking, I pulled around the corner and lined my sights at the first target. I was hoping that the increased range would make my bullet travel farther than usual. Here's hoping.

Click. Thump. Thump.

The back guard was caught off guard as he saw his two buds fall to the ground, and the other two aimed their sights to the door and opened fire. _**Great idea Howard, just fantastic.**_ As I could hear them getting closer, I decided I was going to rush it. I grabbed my pistol from my waist, peeked around the corner again, and took cover while taking a breath.

Then, I opened the door and threw my pistol as hard as I could to guard to my left. As soon as I left go, I slide tackled the other guard to my right. Losing his balance, he fell to floor and I was able to get up and knock him out. The guard on the left was still wincing in pain when I threw my gun, and once he able to regain his senses, I knocked him by punching him straight in the nose.

Finally, there was the last one guard, who was still checking on the other two. I don't know if he was trained for guarding or just a medical expert. He had a gun on him, so I could only assume both. Suddenly it dawn on him that he was the only one left standing in the hallway with me. He stood slowly, and slowly turned around to see me. He was scared, but I was going to make sure he was scared no more.

"Don't worry, this will be over all soon." I said as I punch him in the gut and put him in a headlock to slow down his breathing. Yeah, it might have been wrong to knock him out as his body language told me that he gave up, but there were 10 hostiles. I'm going to make sure those 10 hostiles are out of my way.

"Sir, may I remind you there are still two more hostiles, and they appear to be Lionhart's bodyguards. I would sug…"

AAL was then cut off, and soon, the entire power system inside went completely dead. The hallway was pitch black, hell, everything was pitch black now. I tried to contact AAL but there was still nothing. I went to check on my VRWristband to see if that was still functioning, and to my dismay, it too was dead. What the fuck is going on?

"Whoever you are, you're good at what you do" said a voice that I couldn't make out where it came from. It sounded like Lionhart though.

"Lionhart!?" I shouted. I wasn't getting scared, but I was starting to get nervous. As much as I used the darkness for my advantages in combat, right now I was in the worst type of scenario. No AAL, dead gear, and a voice that I couldn't figure out where it came from. Great.

Suddenly, the lights came on, and Lionhart was standing right in front of me. He was bigger than me and possibly stronger than me in the sense of mass.

"Take him" and those were the last words I heard before someone from behind knocked me unconscious.

 _Roughly 20 hours later…_

 _ **FUCKJUSTHAPPENED?**_ That was the very first thing that came to mind once I regain consciousness. And then, bam. A single bright light opened up. Apparently I had a bag over my head, and once I could finally adjust to my surroundings, I felt myself strapped to a chair, tied up with no way out. My bandana was also pulled down, exposing my full fleshed face and my identity. I still had my gear though, but what bother me the most showing my face in front of the Mayor.

"Well, well, well.. I see you've taken a nice nap, haven't you?"

"How long.. long was I out?"

"20 hours or so. The effects from a tranquilizer bullet usually puts most of our kind to sleep for a good hour or two… but, obviously as you can see, it had a different effect on you."

I knew he was hinting at something, so I asked, "What do you want?"

"Well, I have many questions, so I'll just keep it short. Name, alias, and what the fuck is your purpose being here?"

I didn't want him to know who I was. He was no longer of my concern and I didn't want to expose myself to someone with that much authority. I couldn't just stay silent, otherwise I would be a dead man.

"Well…?" Lionhart spoke to them like he was in a hurry, so I simply blurted out,

"Howard Clauson. C-L-A-W-S-O-N." I would figure that spelling my name to emulate a real animal would help my chances, but it didn't as Lionhart gave me a scorn look, like if I was insulting him. "What am I? Well, uh… see, that I would have to expla.."

"I don't have time for garbage talk, Mr. Clauson. I already have 14 mammals locked and now I have someone that knows exactly where they are, so if you think I'm going to go easy on you, you're in for one fucked up night."

I gazed at him, and I could tell he wasn't fooling around.

"And what are you going to do to me if I don't talk?"

"Frame you for the kidnappings. Just look at you, no one has

"It'll be the blood from your head if you keep this smartass attitude up."

"No no, I'm not being a smartass. I'm being serious. See, when I went into the containment corridor and saw those animals, I saw something well… telling, might I say."

Lionhart squinted, which came to a surprise to me. I was expecting him to lurch over the table and rip my eye sockets, but now he was perplexed. _ ***I have intel that you don't have, ha-haha-ha-ha-ha* I sang through my head.**_ His curiosity was showing on his face.

"…What are you trying to say.."

"Do you believe that these mammals are going wild by nature?"

"Well, I can't directly answer that. We don't know what's causing them, and if the public found out that they were held captive here, the city would go into complete chaos. That's why I'm holding you for further questioning. Who are you working for anyway, Mr. Big?"

"Who? I'm not working for anyone."

"Then why are you here? A random species like you doesn't show up to Zootopia and the first thing he does is break into an asylum. How did you even know about this if you've been here for… for.. you didn't even say?"

"About maybe 2-3 days, I think" I replied. It did feel rather quick how all of this was playing out, but sometimes you just meet the right people that tell you a bit too much.

"TWO DAYS? THEN HOW…" As Lionhart shouted, I interrupted him, finally explaining how I managed to get here.

"Look, I come from a different world and I got transported here. I then met a cop who told me about the missing mammals case, and I took shelter in a van which happened to bring me here. And no, I don't have a golden horseshoe up my ass for how incredibly lucky I am."

Lionhart looked at me as if I was a crazed man, fitting perfectly with the whole cliché of being crazy in an asylum.

"You're bluffing…"

"The cop was first rabbit officer Judy Hopps, very nice might I say. And the driver of the van? Ivan."

"…shit. Shit, shit, shit!"

"Am I bluffin.."

"Shut the fuck up! I knew having a rabbit officer was a bad idea. They told me she wouldn't be a problem and somehow she found you roaming the streets?"

" _And keeping 14 mammals hostage isn't?"_ I said vey sarcastically.

"One more smartass comment like that and it'll be your head in the paper."

There was a knock on the door and was one of the facility workers, who chimed in at the worst time. Lionhart's patience was being tested and he didn't want to be bothered. "Excuse me, Mayor may I have a word with you? This is important.."

"Not now ma'am."

"But sir, I think I may have found something intriguing about the mammals. You need to see this for yourself."

I looked at the mayor and just tilted my head slightly, saying nothing. The mayor sighed, complying. He got up and told one of his bodyguards to guard the door from the outside. Alone, by myself. Great.

"I'll be back in a couple of minutes, make sure Clauson doesn't leave this room."

He shut the door behind him and went on his way. How the hell was I going to leave the room if I was tied to the chair? I was getting the impression that the Mayor wasn't really bright. He looked knowledgeable, but looking smart won't get you anywhere if you're smart yourself. I didn't know how long he might be gone for, but if I could imagine, probably a few minutes which may seem like hours. I decided to rock back and forth, at least trying to attempt to free myself. I didn't do me any good once I fell over onto my side since it caused too much noise. The guard heard this and saw me lying on the floor strapped to my chair. He called me an idiot, and proceeded to turn around. _**Well great, this is how I'm going to end my life. Here, in an asylum.**_

But then I heard voices, coming up from behind. Eventually they were getting louder and louder, but as I looked around the small room, there was nothing but a ventilation shaft opening behind me. It hurt to stretch all the way around to see that it was there, so I didn't even bother to stare at it. I just kept my face looking ahead, with my head on the ground. Then, a crash and the voice grew clearer to me.

"Well Carrots, this definitely doesn't look like the place. Maybe should of listened to me and gone to the left instead, huh?"

"Shut up Nick. Who knows, this could be one of the missing mammals."

It was Judy. God damn, it was Judy and I couldn't be more thankful right now to hear her voice, especially since it sounded like Rachael's.

"Officer Hopps?" I said, "Is that really you?"

"Wait, did that thing just talked? And how does it know your name?" said the unidentified voice. I couldn't make out what who it was, but Officer Hopps did mention the name "Nick" so I could only assume that he was questioning me.

They both quickly ran around the chair to see me. It didn't matter that my identity wasn't concealed, I could care less at this point. Lionhart knew he captured a new species, and was sure to expose me out on it.

"Howard…" Said the rabbit, talking like she was in disbelief. I couldn't blame her. Leaving her with more questions rather than answers is not a good thing, and it's even worse since I left her thinking I wasn't real.

"Clauson. Howard Clauson." I said, breaking a slight smile. I was trying my best to ease the mood because I didn't know if they were going to ditch me or help me. "Look, I know this may be a lot to take in, especially for your friend… the fox here."

"Hey, I'm not just some fox, the name's Nick. Nick Wilde. I'm also a cop, see this badge?" I glanced my eyes towards his shirt to see a sticker. I could only roll them in disgust and puff out a small chuckle.

"Yeah… sure you are." Judy finally broke the mindless banter, as she wanted to know who, what, or how I got here.

"What are you doing here?! Are you one of them?! The intel that we were given only stated 14 mammals but you're clearly.."

"Human." As I cut her off, finally revealing what the hell type of species I was. Judy was confused as well Nick.

"A what?" said Judy. "What's a human?" as she glanced towards me then to Nick.

"Hey don't look at me Carrots, I'm keeping my lips sealed on this one."

"Well gee Nick, I thought you knew everyone."

"I said I knew everyone, not 'everyone that wasn't a… uh.."

"Human.." I said again with a hint of curiosity. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Were on the missing mammals case, but more importantly what are you doing here?"

I didn't know what to say. Should I tell them the truth and say that I too was looking for the mammals, or lie that I was taken away by Lionhart's henchmen. Either one wasn't a good answer since both lead to another question afterwards. I then remember thinking about doing the right thing, and lying to a cop for the second time probably wouldn't end well for me.

"I'm also here on the missing mammals, but it's complicated."

"Is that so? Is that why you left when I asked who you were?"

I could sense a little a guilt in me when she said that.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah that's why. Look, I don't have time to explain it fully, otherwise I'm putting the both of you in danger. Someone could return any minute right now. It's a long story, trust me. Just… please, untie me. I'll cut you a deal, set me free and once this blows over, we can talk in private, the both of. Your friend here looks trustworthy enough."

Judy gave me a look and rolled her eyes at Nick, like if she was trying to tell me that Nick wasn't trustworthy. I mean, you're with a cop and you're not handcuffed, I can only assume you're either interning or her partner. Though, that would be on hell of an internship to grab I will say. I could see Judy was thinking long and hard about whether to untie me or not. I disappeared from her sight once so I wasn't on her trustworthy side. I wouldn't blame her to be honest. I was powerless right now, and she almost came to a conclusion until I said, "Lionhart is here. Why he's here, I don't know. If you needed any intel for the ZPD, well… there you go. Now, please?" I sounded like a criminal in desperation.

Her ears perked up when I mention the word Lionhart, which I guess was a good trigger cause I assumed she was just going to leave me here.

"Well, I guess luck is on your side today. We have a deal" she said with a smile.

 _ **Thank the lord and all his doings.**_ Judy went around back and untied the knot behind the chair. I got up and put the chair back on all fours and sat back down, pretending as if I was still tied.

"I'll catch up with you guys later, after this blows over, I need to stay low to avoid some heat. Just… trust me, I know this all sounds strange but I'll explain it all. You guys should go, now!" I said exuberantly, seeing that Lionhart made his way to the door. Judy nodded, and both her and Nick left in an instant.

Lionhart opened the door and sat down, giving me a look like he knew I was right about something.

"Well… you were right. This isn't a natural shift in an animal's behavior."

"You saw the gun markings too I presume?"

"What gun markings? You're telling me that someone's deliberately shooting these innocent victims and making them savage?"

He gave me a serious look, and I really didn't know what to say. I was telling the truth, but at the same time he thinks I'm just bluffing. So, I decided to go by his rules and say, "Well, I mean… you did say I was bluffing."

Lionhart was now pissed. I wasn't trying to be a smartass anymore, but I guess I slipped a little bit when I said that. Then again, I was just saying what he told me. He got up and looked me in the eye. _**Just a bit closer kitty, just a bit closer…**_

"I'm going to warn you one last time Clauson, keep this up, I will claw your head. And don't think I won't do it."

"Well, that's awfully rude of you Mayor. I don't like the mindset of your thinking, I mean, what would happen if the press found out that you killed an unidentified species?"

He was about to say something in return but I cut him off, "Oh yeah, wait, it would have been just some kind of accident and your hands would be clean. Gee, how did I not see that? I really need to straighten my head a little bit."

As soon as the words "little bit" left the tip of my tongue, I got out of chair and grabbed Lionhart's shoulders and head-butted him as hard as I could and as quick as I could. "Ow!" shouted the lion. The guard blocking the door instantly turned around to see what was going on. I lunged across the table to pass Lionhart, who was still trying to regain his senses. I saw my gear lying on the ground and crouched down to pick it up. In the meantime, the door had opened and the guard was overlooking me, ready to shoot.

Death was right in front me, yet again. So it figured to him. Without thinking, I bit his leg which caught him off guard. I didn't even think twice about biting someone or something, but when there's a gun pointed at your head, you'd be surprised how crafty and desperate people can be. I was little bit of both, but mainly crafty.

The guard dropped his gun, and I tackled him into the wall. I wasn't worried about knocking him out, I wasn't worried about causing a commotion, and I certainly didn't care if everything went to hell real fast.

I need to get out. Fast.

With the two down, I quickly grabbed my equipment from inside the room and I tried to connect to my coms., but unfortunately they were still dead. _**Well shit, this makes it a lot more interesting.**_ I got up, and ran. I needed to find the stairwell that I came up in, otherwise I would be doing some serious parkour outside. I could hear Lionhart trying to figure out where I went, but I was gone from his sight. I did get to hear him talk about the missing mammals, and soon thought of Judy and her partner Nick. _**God bless those two.**_ If they were checking out the missing mammals, then their escape would be awfully difficult.

I passed a window to see it was still night out. Man, I really was out for 20 hours. Bastard wasn't kidding. Soon, I found an entrance that lead to some stairs, but as soon as I looked over the railing, there were guards coming up. _**Shit.**_ I had to find another way out. Behind me, I could hear more voices coming my way. Trapped, or so I thought. I looked at the window and pretty much said fuck it. It's going to cause a stir, but if the pot full of shit wasn't stirring right now, it definitely would be in a second.

I bashed though the window and barrel rolled off onto the roof's sloped edge. I didn't have time to think about my next move, only time to act. And then suddenly, I was falling. It was about a 2 story drop, but that wasn't my concern. My concern was where I landed. Remember how I mentioned that Cliffside is on a cliff? Yeah, there isn't much room between the building and edge, and I knew if I missed that spot in between, I would be dead.

I hit the ground, and my force of movement made me roll over the edge. I was now hanging on for dear life, and if anyone was going to save me this time, it certainly wasn't going to be Judy and Nick. It took all my will power to pull myself up just after hitting the ground. I didn't break anything, but I was fucking sore. Once I pulled myself together, I got up and tried to find a vehicle. There was no way in hell I was going to leave on foot. As I turned the corner, there was a black van sitting nearby. It almost looked like the same one I came in here before. I checked the window, saw that there was no driver or passenger, and to my luck, the key was in the ignition. I could hear in the background that Lionhart's goons were still close on my tail, so I started up the engine and navigated my way around the building. It was sketchy, since I was close falling over the edge a couple times. I had to be careful but at the same time to be diligent as well.

I saw the bridge, and floored it. The gate guards were standing in my way but I didn't care if they got hit or not, cause I wasn't slowing down. They shot through my window and I did my best to navigate through the gunfire. Eventually, they all got out of the way, seeming that their life was too valuable to die. Who would want to go out by being hit by a speeding van when you could have easily moved 2 feet away? Yeah, no one want's go out like that.

I escaped. I looked behind and saw that no one was chasing me. Holy shit, I done it. If I ever have to experience what going through an asylum was, I can go on with my life saying that it was terrible but for different reasons.

My next move was to find out where Judy Hopps lived, as I told her I would explain, well… what the fuck am I doing here, essentially. Remarkably, the van had an outlet station that could charge any electronic device, and so happened that I could plug in my VRWristband. I didn't know what it would do, but I figured it was worth a shot.

And yet again, just my luck… I heard a static through my ear. "AAL. AAL?" hoping to hear from him.

"SIR! Oh thank goodness you're alive again, I thought you were dead!"

Feeling relieved, I could concentrate on driving. "No AAL, I'm fine. We're still here in the new world, Zootopia."

"Well that's good to hear. Do you have any details in the time when the electronics went dark?"

"Little, but I do have to ask you a favor."

"Anything sir."

"Look up where Judy Hopps lives."

"Why sir?"

"She's the reason why I got out of here alive. She and a fox both helped me escape, but I had to make a deal with her that I would have to explain.. well, you know."

"Is it time?"

"Yes. It's time."

It was finally time to tell her who I was, where I came from, and what I know about the missing mammals case. The people back at the asylum knew who I was, and it was time to open up. No more hiding. No more disappearing and trying to leave questions. It was time to answer the questions that most people have about me, and I knew Judy would be the one to at least understand. I don't know how she's going to take it, but I can only assume the worst.

"Okay sir, I'm on it."


	7. Chapter 7: Assume The Worst

_**Hello everyone, don't worry I haven't forgotten about this story. I've been real busy and been taking some time off from this, I just didn't feel motivated to continue. Plus, college finals so ya know, lol. Anyway, here's chapter 7.**_

Assume the Worst

It was late afternoon, just about a day after the Cliffside incident. I laid low for a while, using the van as my temporary home. I caught some much needed shut eye after the past 24 or 48 hours were hell. The van was shady, but it was better than sleeping on the street and getting mauled away. I assumed that Lionhart was after me and his goons were trying to find me and a black van is pretty easy to spot in the day, especially when you live in the vibrant, colorful world of Zootopia. I had to find something to eat, and luckily there was a Discount Starbucks right by. It was actually Zootopia's Zest Coffee, but Discount Starbuck's had a better ring to it. I mean, where I come from, who wants to put Zest in their coffee?

I got out of the van, looked around and saw that there was no one around in the alley. _**Good. At least no one's waiting for me… well, except for Judy and Nick.**_ I went inside and ordered a toasted plain bagel with some cream cheese, a bottled water, and their daily newspaper. Thankfully, I had enough cash on me. Taking the guards down at the asylum made it easy to pickpocket any cash they had. It was wrong, but hey, eat or be eaten.

The guy that was handing me my change was a flamingo, who looked at me like if I had a rough night.

"You look quite tired."

"Yeah. You know… _partying and what not._ It was one crazy night."

Of course I was lying, but technically I wasn't. It was one hell of a party from what I was doing. I thanked the cashier and went back outside and into my van. I grabbed a newspaper on the way out since I was treating this as my morning routine, even though it was late afternoon. I sat down and started to read while I ate, and well… apparently I missed a whole lot.

"AAL, come online, you need to see what I'm seeing."

"Here sir."

The opening headline read: "MISSING MAMMALS FOUND AS MAJOR DETAILS ARE EXPOSED" with the subtext below stating: "Mayor Lionhart arrested as bunny cop Judy Hopps releases horrifying details." I kept reading into more of it and apparently she said that some predators are going back to their primitive state. _**Shit.**_ This wasn't good. I didn't tell her that it's not a natural occurrence, more than likely a drug. I had evidence and she was the only one that I knew who had a connection to the ZPD. She freakin' worked for them, so I had a chance.

"AAL, pinpoint her address. I'm not wasting anymore time."

"On it sir."

I got into the driver's seat and made my way down the street. Along the way, protests were being gathered in any public place that allowed. Some were pro-predator, while some wanted them to be exiled. It gave me time to think about what's been transpiring the past couple of days. _**Why put yourself into the fight Howard? You're unknown here. Why help the city?**_ I asked this many times to myself and couldn't really find an answer. I only ended up thinking "Why not? What else is there for me to do? You're dead in the old world and you have to start over. Why change." It was always something that's been in my mind for a while, knowing someday I was going to be asked that by someone.

I made my arrival and parked the van close to curb. It was an old apartment, so trying to figure out what room should be fun to navigate. I went inside and there was an older "lady", if I could call it that. She was an armadillo, and by the look of her face, she wasn't pleased to see me. "What else is new?" I thought. I've been getting this type of treatment before and I'm kinda used to it. It didn't bother me one bit.

"What do you want? If you're a predator, I'm not selling you a room. This is a predator free zone."

"I'm not looking to buy, I'm simply looking for someone. Her name is Miss Judy Hopps."

"Ah the former cop, eh?" Spoke the landlady. _**Former cop? What former cop, she just took down the mayor...?**_

"Former?"

"Did I stutter, raghead?" _**Gee, that's a new one**_ **.** "Yes, former. Former Cop of Zootopia. She just left about 4-5 hours ago."

"Where?"

"Look, are you a cop? Because if not, I don't have to stand here and play 20 questions. Now, exactly what are you, because if you're predator, I'm not selling you a room."

I rolled my eyes and sighed, simply in disbelief that Judy wasn't here with no explanation. What happened to her? Why did she leave? The landlady wasn't helping me out one bit.

"Matter of fact, it looks like you have something else to deal with" said the landlady, having no idea what she was referencing too. She nodded her head to the direction behind me, and I could see two police cars blocking me in. Apparently I was getting ticketed for illegal parking, not knowing that where I was parking happened to be a fire zone. _**Great. Good job numb-nuts. My day is getting better.**_ I walked outside to see a rhino and a turtle both inspecting my van, as they were trying to get it in as it appeared. When I finally made it outside, I shouted,

"Hey! Why are you guys doing?"

"Parking in a fire zone, probably one of the dumbest things anyone could possibly do" said the Rhino, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for Judy Hopps, I have vaula.." I was interrupted by the turtle,

"Really? Then why is there a rifle and a pistol in the back of the van?"

Instantly a shock went through my spine. Shit. I knew what was going to happen next. I could see the next 5 minutes playing out in my mind, and I had to accept it. They thought I was going to murder her, and I was going to be on the run.

"What? What, are you implying that I'm looking to kill her?"

"With what we're seeing, and especially looking at you, no doubt," said the turtle, "Just… what are you, anyway?"

Lying, I simply said, "I don't know to be honest…"

"Look, I don't know if you've heard but that rabbit released details about predators, so if you don't know, the best thing we can do is lock you up."

I was in disbelief. "Why? What have I done wrong?"

The rhino chimed in, "Well, parking in a fire zone and not complying with an officer. That seems just about right, what do you think Dean?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right."

"Fine, look… Just, let me get something from my van that'll make this easier to explain."

They allowed me to go check my van, and as I started to open the doors, I grabbed the rhino's head who was to my left and slammed his head on the door. Then without missing a beat, I kicked the turtle in his chest which knocked him back quite a few. This gave me enough time to grab my TDR and pistol as I tried to escape. I made my way around the van and ran as fast as I could, as I could hear in the background "This officer Jenkins, I have a suspect running on 4th street in southside Zootopia, I need backup, NOW!"

I turned the corner of another street and decided to free-run it. No plan, no path. Just, escape. AAL then came on in my ear,

"Sir, may I ask… why did you do.."

"Ask later, I'm busy."

I could hear a squad in the background, and I looked back to see the rhino and the turtle making the corner, hot on my tail. I had hundreds of onlookers from up close and from afar, seeing their puzzled looks as I sprinted by. Up ahead was a bridge which had a river below. Without thinking, I jaywalked across the street. I wouldn't call it jaywalking, since I was running as fast as I could. I could hear more and more police sirens coming closer and reaching me, so I had to take this off course. There was a little dirt opening on the side of the road where it lead down to the river and a trail was aside of it. I made my decent hoping they wouldn't follow, but when I looked back I could see that these guys were persistent, well… at least the rhino. He was determined to bring me down.

I decided to bring out my TDR. I wasn't going to shoot the rhino out of his seat, but try to take out one of his tires. The TDR wasn't really made for stuff like that, but the sharp point on the bullet was enough to deflate. I stood there, knowing I couldn't waste any more time. I looked through my scope, held breath and in an instant…

*Click*. Pop, tire down.

My next worry was he was aiming his car towards me. Knowing that he had no control of his car, I spoke into my coms.

"AAL, power down."

And with that, I jumped into the river and held my breath underwater for as long as I could. Maybe, just maybe, they might think I drowned, calling off the chase. The river was more intense than I initially thought it was going to be. On the surface it look pretty harmless, but it was much more different below. The sound of the sirens and gunshots, which was a surprised to me that now was the right time to start shooting and not, oh, when I assaulted two police officers. Right then and there they should of at least taken one shot.

For about a minute, I ducked my head up to see if there was anyone around and to my luck, which has been very shitty today, I saw they called it off. I wasn't in the clear yet, thinking that they would find me at a point in the river. I decided to swim to a bank that happened to be on my right side, but the force of the river made it a bit difficult. I wasn't hurt, just sore from the adrenaline rush I had. As I finally made it to land, I laid down on a hill. I didn't know where I was, but I knew I was just on the outskirts of Zootopia. To me, it looked like I landed up in some large park, totally isolated from the rest of the city. I decided to turn on my coms. and allowed AAL to speak. Luckily, they're weren't damaged.

"Sir… Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Sore, but I'm good."

"May I just ask… why?"

"I set myself up on that one, that's my fault. I was stuck between a large rock and a hard place so the only way out was, well… that. I couldn't let them arrest me AAL, they would of for sure taken my gear away. Besides, they think I was going to kill Judy."

"Well… that certainly explains everything."

"Where am I exactly?"

"Longview Grounds, it's a remote area in the middle of Zootopia. A large park I might say, so as long as you hide and stay out of sight, you should be good."

"For now."

I sat up and saw the sun setting. I had to find a place secured enough so that when I woke up next morning I wouldn't be waking in a jail cell. It was a risk to become Zootopia's new fugitive, and now, well… here I was. As I walked uphill, I could finally see some of the layout of the grounds. It was park, but it was much undeveloped. It was either that, or abandoned, and I was sure hoping it was abandoned.

"AAL, how cold am I from the police?"

"Considering you lost them minutes ago, very hot. I would find cover and lay low right now."

As I searched the grounds, I realized that I still had my active camo. to my disposable. _**What a time to be alive.**_ I saw a bridge that had a path go right underneath it, and decided to camp out and wait and see next morning where I was going to end up.

I woke up around 9am, and to my surprise, I was still where I was initially. Sleeping on the ground would of made me looked homeless, but thanks to my active camo., I blended right into the environment. Well, the wall actually, since that's what I was up against. As I looked to my left, I could see that no one was waiting and looking for me, but when I looked to my right, well… I didn't know whether to be glad or scared shitless.

It was Nick, and I was happy but scared to see him.

"Nick?"

Nick was sipping on his drink, what he was drinking I don't know. He was just sitting in his lawn chair and soaking in the sun. I don't know what he was up to since the days that followed the asylum, but when he heard me, it startled him.

"Holy fuck! Don't…" He looked at me and dimmed his shades down so he could make eye contact with me, in disbelief. What he was in disbelief I didn't know. "…You're… that thing, that thing from the asylum."

"That 'thing' is me, a human may I correct you."

"Human, thing, same thing." Nick said in very curt manner. "What are you doing here?"

"You don't know..?" I said, asking very slowly. If he knew I was a wanted man, then I wasn't afraid of using fear to persuade him out of it, even though that was going to be a last resort.

"No, I don't. I've been pissed off ever since that damn rabbit singled out the predators."

"Oh, okay. Well, if makes you feel any better, I'm currently the most wanted creature in Zootopia right now."

Nick came back with a perplexed look and looked right at me. "What? I mean, no it doesn't make me feel any better but… how?"

"Assaulting a police officer and then out running them."

"Ah, that's one way to do it." Said the fox very sarcastically. "I could turn you in but I probably would get incriminated with you, so… you better run along."

"Incriminated with you?"

"Yeah, incriminate. Since that rabbit made that speech a while ago, she singlehandedly singled out the predators of Zootopia, which includes me. Probably you too, since no one knows what exactly you are, but I assume they would think that you're like us."

I gave a pinched look to Nick, and sarcastically responded, "Because they might think I've gone savage, right."

Nick snorted, taking the curt response with ease. "Hey, at this point, anyone will believe anything with the way how things have gone."

What first turned into a serious conversation was coming down to simple banter between us. I guess I could relate a little bit with Nick and his kind, but I was different subject at hand. I wasn't being scrutinized for who I was, I was being chased after the law.

"This situation reminds a little bit like where I came from." I said, grabbing Nick's attention again.

"Huh?"

"Well, I don't know if I told you or not, but I came from a different world. It's just like this except my kind, the humans, dominate the planet. Then there's you guys. Not just foxes, every living and breathing animal here in Zootopia lives on that planet except they live in their natural habitat, not brokering on some executive."

Nick was intrigued by what I was saying, but it prompted me to ask him this, "So, what's your story?"

"Well, I grew up in a small neighborhood on the southside of Zootopia. My parents both raised me in a small apartment and I had dreams in my childhood to become the first predator boy scout, thinking 'I want to be known for something good for my kind."

"Deep thinking for someone that young." I responded

"Yeah, I guess you can say so."

"Did you make it though?"

"Yeah, but only for a short while. Everything went downhill after I successfully joined, I'm not gonna go into full details because I try really hard to block that out of my mind. Just… I try not to reveal my true colors around people and to show people differently. Hence why I took up being a con artist."

I could see the slight pain in Nick's eyes, moving away from my face and making contact with the ground. I could get the sense that whatever happened in his childhood wasn't up to me to egg into telling me. If it's too personal to tell, I know when to stop begging and just give in.

"Hear me out," I came back with, finally getting Nick's attention. "What if I told you that the predators are _not_ going back to their natural state?"

"I would say you're full of shit to be honest" said Nick, giving me a glance like I was indeed making up shit.

"Really? What if showed you evidence that backed up that up?"

"Look Howard, I told you anyone would believe anything at this point, but that didn't mean that I'm going to believe in what you just said, so…"

"The animals are being targeted. Shot at, to put it more correctly. The night I was at the asylum I was in their holding chamber and found all mammals to have the same exact marking on their neck. Now, ask yourself… am I really making this up? Because if so, what other reason would I be at Cliffside Asylum other than finding the missing mammals? Hmmm?"

"...Good point. I'm still not fully convinced though. I mean, I'm gonna need more than you to…"

Before Nick could finish his point, police sirens started ringing in the background, and at this point, I had no time to listen to Nick. I quickly interrupted him.

"Tell me, right now, where I can go to disappear."

"Uh.." Uttered Nick, seemingly taking his time to respond.

"Nick! Now!"

"Tundra Town! Holy shit, why are.."

I cut Nick off and quickly responded, "If I stay here, they'll constantly come after me. I essentially need to go off the radar for a while."

"Okay, but… Tundra Town is exactly a safe haven. Trust me, I've been through a lot of shit with some people and somehow I turned out to be alive."

"I'm not going to mingle, I'm going cold. I guess you don't know what off the radar means, huh?" I said with a nod and a smirk.

"Whatever" Nick said as he turned around, seeing the cops in the distance getting out their squad car. "You better want to get g.." but before Nick could say anything, I was already gone and making my escape. In the background, I could barely make out the words "Typical" from Nick. I don't know what he was referencing to, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't too happy about it.

I made my way up the hill and interjected into my coms. speaking to AAL, "Tundra Town, find a way to the outskirts AAL."

"Will do sir."

It was already noon, surprising me how much time has passed between me and Nick. He was a good guy, maybe a little troubled but he needed to be shown the right way. That didn't matter to me right now, all what mattered was my run from the cops again.

I kept my distance away from the streets and followed a creek uphill that AAL said it would lead to Tundra Town. I wasn't going into the town exactly, just far away enough from there and Zootopia. Hopefully, it would pay off. The trail that I was on cut through the outskirts of Zootopia and eventually I made it out of the city. I didn't check to see if I was being tailed still, I just assumed the worst: someone was behind me, ready to gun me down. Thankfully, there wasn't.

After another hour of essentially hiking through wooded areas, I made to the outskirts of Tundra Town, or so AAL told me. There wasn't any indication of where I was exactly, so I just kept going and going. Eventually, the wooded sections I was traversing became very barren and cold, with spots of snow on the ground. Now I knew exactly where I was, and that was away from the madness that spurred behind me. As I kept hiking, I looked to my right to what seemed to be a snowy mountain in the distance. _**Bingo.**_ That was where I was going to hold out until things finally blow over. And if anyone found me here, than I guess I would die a cold, harsh death.

Risk earn reward, and I was taking all the risks.


	8. Chapter 8: Awake

**Editor's note: Hey guys, I'm not internet dead. So it's been about a year and half since my last chapter and you're probably want an explanation on what was going on with me in between then.**

 **To be honest, I lost interest in the story.**

 **As I was writing the last chapter, letting Howard go into the woods to seclude himself from society was pretty much what I did (Society as in , in short sense). Life got in the way, I had no time to write, and eventually I just stopped all together on the story.**

 **So you might be saying to yourself that I'm done with this story and I won't continue it, right?**

 **Yeah, no. This story is getting finished.**

 **See, during that long period of time I had an idea for a sequel, and it has always lingered in the back of my mind for literally a year. I had no motivation to do it but the more and more I thought about it, the more intrigue I had on the narrative.**

 **And now, that intrigue has pegged me to upload a new chapter because I want to see how this "sequel" writes out.**

 **Apologies if I seem rusty, like I said it's been a couple years since I wrote. If my style seems slightly different, let me know (if it's better, wow, that's… amazing). Plus, I haven't seen Zootopia since its initial release.**

 **TL;DR: let's wake Howard up, shall we?**

Awake

Hours. Days. Weeks. Months. Years.

Time either flies by or slows down, and usually for me, it speeds past me like a bullet. It didn't really bother me though. I like being busy, and as long as I'm traversing the city or out and about in Tundra Town, I'm fine.

Except I never made it to Tundra Town.

AAL had short-circuited minutes after he gave me the coordinates to Tundra Town. The cause of his sudden failure was unknown to me, but I was lucky enough to have him in the first place when I warped into this world, and the fact that he was still programmed to do as he did was even more impressive. For the first time in a while, I was completely alone.

My watch read 09:32 April 4 2016. Three weeks have gone by since then, but time told me that it felt like months.

I had no idea where I was or what district I was currently in. All I knew that I was in the outskirts of downtown and not in Tundra Town, the place I needed to go away initially. Somehow, I manage to stay cold without been noticed while traversing the area. I secluded myself from society really. In the span of three weeks, I went from being a military operative to someone that's a sleeping dog. I was just waiting patiently while this blows over.

I donned a new look as well. I wanted to make my disappearance look real and got rid of mostly of my gear. Now, I looked like a regular citizen… okay, maybe not _regular_ in the sense that I would blend in well, but I made sure to get rid of some things so that I could at least leave some breadcrumbs lying around. Hopefully that was enough to send them the message.

What I did keep was my pistol, which I used as my last resort. Getting rid of that would be sacrilege, but I keep hold of it as a fear tactic to others.

As I walking, I managed to reach a place. Civilization I thought. After managing myself for the past three weeks I found myself outside a little town called "Bunnyburrow."

"Wonderful."

I thought about turning around and ignoring the place, but I figured since it's been awhile, the locals won't know who I am. They might discriminate me for my looks of being a predator, but that was the least of my worries. I'm human, and we fall under both categories anyway. _Shark hunts human, human hunts deer._ The thought went through me and somewhat eased me but I was still on guard in case anything would happen.

As I made my way into town, I was getting looks from everyone. I tried keeping my head down and keep moving forward but I could her murmurs of rabbits saying shit about me. _I knew this was bad idea. What am I even looking for here, Judy?_ Judy wasn't on my mind. In fact, I totally forgot about her. Was she even here? Or was she still the head cop of Zootopia? As if she would help me. I'm already on ZPD's shitlist.

Suddenly, I almost walked right into a food stand. That's what you get for not looking ahead and paying attention. As I stumbled, I startled the mistress that was running the stand as she wasn't paying attention either, and we both looked at each other with the most awkwardest of looks you could ever imagine. She finally broke the dead air by introducing herself.

"Hel-hello sir, how are you toda-ay?" She said with a cautious smile. I immediately played the predator card, sensing her endangerment.

"Are you afraid of me?" I asked.

"Well, you are quite an irregular customer that visits here. As a matter of fact, I don't even know what you are. If you're a predator, we're going to have to call ZPD and have you detained."

 _Shit._ "Well, I'm not. Look, I'm lost. I just need… some things, do you know where a general store can be found?"

"Down the street here, make a left and keep going for 3 blocks and then a right. There you'll find Eden's Garden. What things do you need?"

"Supplies. It's nothing important, I'm just a regular hitchhiker, don't you see?" Obviously I was bullshiting her, but I had to leave. I left the stand but at the same time looking back to see that she was on the phone. _Fuck, I better make this quick and hightail out of here._

I reached Eden's Garden, which was a name beyond coincidences that I could ever imagine in a town called Bunnyburrow. The store looked empty as some of the lights were shut off. However; the door seemed to be opened. _Has someone broken in? Is this a trap for me?_ These were just some of the thoughts that traversed my mind. I decided to push the door open to find no one inside.

"Hello?" I shouted to no response. _I don't like this._

My plan was to go in and hopefully extract more information on the Nighthowler case, since the buzz around town was that it was closed thanks to Judy Hopps. But looking around and seeing that no one was inside the store, it made me weary to think that I wouldn't get what intended seeking out.

I made my way to the very end of the store to where there was a hat and scarf section. Seeing that there was no-one around, I decided to take a hat and small grey scarf. I wouldn't even call it a scarf, It was more to conceal from the nose down. Whatever, it would hide my identity for a little while before someone became suspicious.

Then, a load bang rang in at the front of the store. _Shit, they're here._ ZPD finally found me. It all started with assaulting a police officer and running away, and now that the new predator rules were in place, I was toast.

Except, I didn't hear a siren from outside. No indication that they were here before that grand entrance. No matter, I hid behind one of the isles with my back against to it and just hoped for the best.

And then there were two voices. Two male voices as a matter of fact. They made no indication that they were the ZPD.

What the fuck was going on here?

"Come on X1, do you know what time this store re-opens? We don't have time to kill."

"A4, may I remind you that it was you who replicated Miss Eden, correct?"

Replicate Miss Eden? Wait, are they talking about… cloning, to some sort of degree? I stayed quiet and let the two quarrel back and forth. I did take a glance to see what they looked like.

They were wolves. One was grey, which I assumed was A4 and the other was black. These wolves were wearing long black looking lab coats with sunglasses. If I had to guess, it was some secret organization they were working for. They were also dragging a lifeless looking body, presumably Miss Eden. What were they doing with her? I listened in as they were by the counter.

"I told you to lock the door on the way out, and look, the door was open when we got back. Do you have any idea how much shit we're going to be in if this gets leaked out?"

"Heh, not unless we catch them first."

"Meh, good point. Alright, is she ready to go?"

"Yep, T5-99, activation code Oscar November."

 _Phoenetics? So these guys are military, but…_ My thought was instantly erased when I saw the lifeless body of Miss Eden come to life, is if I saw the dead being reanimated. It was staggering, and I was speechless. I don't know what I was witnessing, but that was soon answered when I saw Miss Eden functioning like a normal… person.

I had to intervene. I knew something wasn't right as soon as they walked in, so I pulled out my pistol and came from the corner.

"Freeze" I said calmly. I had two guns pointed at might as soon as the "F" left my mouth.

"See X1? This is what happens when we do things according to your way. Now we have… this thing."

"I'm a human to be exact. Howard Clauson, known fugitive to the ZPD and currently resisting to put two bullets in you two."

"The human? A4, this is the project Haj has been talking about."

"Indeed X1, indeed."

"What the hell is the project, and how do you know.. my species?" I stammered, being flustered with new information. _How the hell do these guys already know who I am? What the hell is this so called "Project?"_

"Let me introduce myself. I'm A4-04" Said the black wolf, "my assistant here is X1-92. We work for Haj. He runs the Bellows."

 _The Bellows?_ This was new information that was being introduced to me. Were they the ones causing this Nighthowler mess? I had to ask.

"So you guys are behind this Nighthowler debacle, huh?"

A4 snickered "Ahhhh, that mess? Please, that's nothing compared to what we're doing."

He took a sliding glance to his right and showed Miss Eden, who was just standing there but at attention. She was just staring straight ahead at the cracked entrance door, like she had some sort of fixation on it. Then A4 spoke up.

"T5-99, operation code November Oscar Romeo Mike. Proceed as usual."

Miss Eden then suddenly snapped out of her stare and proceeded to look at me and ask "Hi, how may I help you today?" without any hesitation.

I just stood there with my gun pointed at A4, while giving a muttering look at Miss Eden, or what I would call an abomination of Miss Eden. I knew right then there what was going on. These guys know about Nighthowler, but they've developed something worse. And for the first time, I saw the glimpse of the kind of future that could unfurl. Something so out of this world that I thought could never happen here, in Zootopia… until now.

"…you motherfuckers." I said with a grimace, "you're… you're building… robots? Hu-animal related, mirror image robots?"

"Synths, actually." Said A4 "This is our first prototype, T5. We're testing to see how well she does in a normal environment. So far, things are looking okay."

"So what do you plan on do-"

I was interrupted when I heard police sirens come flying by outside. It didn't come towards a shock to me since I knew going into town was risky.

"Well, would you look at that. I guess it's our time to go." Said A4, "We'll leave you here with T5."

"What do you mean, leave me here?"

"Hmmh. T5-99, operation code Papa Alpha November Charlie. Make sure this fugitive is arrested."

After A4 spoke, Miss Eden started panicking, not in a self-destruct sequence, but as if I was the worst thing she's ever seen. "PO-POLICE. HELP M-ME!" she stammered "THIS THING HAS A GUN."

I just looked over to A4 in disbelief, while he looked back with a cold expressionless face, as if he too was one of them.

"I'll let the ZPD deal with you. You're a wanted criminal anyway." A4 said, "Besides, we'll be leaving now."

"How? There's only one place ou-"

"Homebase, this is A4-04. I'm here with X1-92. Teleport us back, please."

All of sudden, the space around them was sparking, like lightning being struck but from no source at all. A4 looked back at me one last time.

"We're the Bellows. We'll be watching." And both A4 and X1 disappeared in thin air.

I had no time to react because I was stunned in silence, both mentally and physically.

I was mentally stunned in the sense of what I just saw. Robots, synth, teleportation, etc. It all happened so fast. I couldn't tell if it was real or not, I was just dreaming the whole thing. I wanted to believe the whole thing was just dream.

However, it wasn't.

I woke up in the back of a police car, and could see that outside I was no longer in Bunnyborrow, but on my way back to Zootopia. Apparently the police either tranquilize me (knowing that I could be a predator to me) or just passed out on the floor from the spark shock that overwhelmed me.

"Whe-where am I?"

"Hey! Quiet down, or else we're bringing you in for going savage." shouted the cop, who I could make out was a large hippo. I know hippo's are already large, but this guy remind me of your typical donut cop.

"What?"

"You heard me. Pipe, down."

I was so confused to what was going on. For the first time in a long while, I did what I was told to do. I said to myself that this could very well be the end for me. How was Judy, and was Nick? It felt like years but only weeks ago that I made contact with them. I barely knew Judy, only meeting her twice in the time that I've spent here. Nick on the other hand I already knew a little bit about. Him being a predator and all, I shared some similarities that I never realized I had before.

My daydreaming was halted when the car stopped. We were at ZPD headquarters.

"We're here" said the hippo cop, "Mayor Bellwether and Chief Bogo want to interrogate you face to face."

 _Bellwether? That's a name I haven't heard before._

After being out of it for so long, a little part of me was somewhat eased to be back in the game again. But that easiness went away when I say the chief standing outside the front door.

And I knew, whatever was facing ahead of me, wasn't going to be good.

 _ **Editor's second note: That's chapter 8 guys! I apologize if it seemed all over the place or it felt rushed, but this part of the chapter is somewhat a prelude to the second fanfic I plan on writing. I'll be honest, even I was a bit rusty trying to write this but hopefully it comes back to me and I can give this original story the conclusion it deserves. Chapters are most likely going to be released weekly, but don't be surprised to see two in one week.**_

 _ **-MM**_


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